Dorio
Dorio is a nation in the continent of Alarea. It borders Daravia and Ricci to the north, Bicana and Selora to the west, Leguna to the east, and Kenkor and Lhofar to the south. It also borders the Flatt Gulf, the Kenkor Lagoon, and the Strait of Vicra. The current king of Dorio is Evan III Harquess. Early history See also: Ancient History of Alarea Due to its rich, fertile climate, Dorio has long held various agrarian peoples, including nomads and early city-states. The first people in modern Dorio were a group called the Sorosites, a term which would eventually be corrupted into "Dorians." As a political entity, the term "Dorio" was first used by the Anjeron empire of Ricci, as one of the underkingdoms established by Edmund I. However, the Riccian Dorio was a smaller entity than modern Dorio; northerly duchies like Oberflatt and Elhall were regarded as part of Ricci proper. Capitalizing on the Costran history of trade, several Dorian cities became major ports under Anjeron Ricci, and consequently the Toma Traversai Ricciani described Dorians as "trading much with the men of Bicana, Heurena, and even the savages of Kenkor." Upon the death of Armand III, the Dorian nobles in Eronton tended to be among the first to flee the redpox-stricken urban centers and retreat to their storehouses and vacation homes. Rise of the Dorian Empire See also: List of Dorian Monarchs See also: Dorian Wars of Conquest In the years following the collapse of Ricci, the Dorians were quick to set up city-states and administer their own rule, if they had not previously had cities of their own. After coalitions of northern and southern city-states were formed, ostensibly to protect against raids from Riccian bandits, the Interdorian War then broke out between Halleranvale and Cabalonvale in 15 BT. This war lasted until Talbot Belthion was able to reconcile the two leaders and unite all of Dorio into a single nation. Talbot, for his diplomatic skill, was crowned as the king of this new nation. Talbot, followed by his son and grandson, then absorbed most of southern Alarea into the Dorian Empire (a moniker that would not actually exist for decades). The Dorian Empire was generally stable and prosperous throughout this period, with most of its conflicts being internal. In 71 DR, the newly crowned King Albus I established Heplianism as the state religion of Dorio; this spawned the first of many uprisings in the staunchly Vazranist province of Valatsa. In 148, the Legunar nationalist Brutus Burich deposed and executed King Yorick II in a coup; the nearby Vicra capitalized on the upheaval to launch the Kenkori Campaign, and Burich's mishandling of the war led him to be deposed himself only six years later. This ushered in the reign of Albus II, a well-liked king; however, Albus' acknowledgement of his bastard Evan Therenane led to the ultimate collapse of the Belthion dynasty after the Belthion Succession War (226 – 229). The Therenane dynasty largely followed the patterns established by the Belthions; however, they struggled with foreign tensions throughout the third century, particularly under the misrule of Benedict II. Despite this, Dorio managed to have a largely successful first half of the fourth century, a success that began crumbling in later decades. The lengthy and unsuccessful Vote War causes tensions to rise throughout the empire, and upon the 389 accession of Talbot IV, they boiled over. Decline of the Dorian Empire Valatsa, which had been in various states of unrest since the inception of Heplianism, finally staged the Valat Revolution upon Talbot IV's coronation in 389. This revolution, unlike previous ones, actually succeeded, culminating in the murder of Talbot IV and his family in 393. Talbot's brother, Evan II, was able to pacify Valatsa by granting them independence, which was a good diplomatic move in the short term but started a dangerous precedent. Over the next few decades, most of the other Dorian provinces revolted, reducing it to its modern borders by the end of the year 433. This also led to internal unrest, as Grant Belthion then attempted to restore a Belthion monarchy so as to reclaim the lost territory. All of these events led Talbot V, crowned at the age of five, to be subtly deposed, putting an end to the Therenanes. Herbert Osbrin, a young and charismatic minor lord, was then installed as king to stabilize the country. Modern period Herbert, calling for a restoration of "the Dorio of old," emphasized trade and financial strength, as opposed to military might, as a way to prove Dorio was still a major world power. This led him to found the Golden Quintet, a pan-Alarean trade organization that over the ensuing decades began to spread further and further throughout the world. One of the major results of the Golden Quintet's success was widespread adaptation of the Dorian calendar, as learning its system became useful for worldwide commerce industries. Herbert's reforms were continued by the other Osbrin kings, Albus IV and Albus V. Albus V's will also made the controversial decision of selecting an heir through the lineage of his eldest daughter, not his eldest son. This led to his being succeeded by Garrett Harquess. The Harquesses have continued along the same lines as the Osbrins, but they also struggled with controversy over not including a parliament in their government, as many other economic powerhouses have done. Under Evan III, these tensions are at one of their highest points; his predecessor, Benedict V, was an innovator who had considered governmental reform, but Evan has largely discarded those ambitions. Category:Countries Category:Alarean Countries Category:Active Countries